GTKY: If you won the lottery....

ashleyf911

Shamelessly stealing from another BMB.

If you won the lottery (let's go with a $150 mil jackpot), lump sum or annual payments? How would you spend it?

bettyvonsomethingstein

Lump sum.  Pay all my debt and my immediate family's debt and then just live with my family without worry in the destination of my choice, preferably a small New England town.  No need for extravagant purchases.  Just a nice and quiet life.

cford08

Pay them bills off, give my in laws 10%, parents 10% and live off the rest. Donate some to charities and my church. Make sure my great grandkids never have to worry about money. And buy a yacht near Bey and Jay's lol

DDRRT1982

Lump sum.  I would pay all debt. Start education funds for all my kids.  Have my husband invest some.  Live life as normal, with just a bit less stress.  Buy myself a Prada.  Pay for graduate school.  Put in a pool.  Set up a scholarship through the Health Science department I graduated from.  Donate to our local homeless shelter.  

Posted too soon

ashleyf911

I would totally do the lump sum.

I would pay off my bills, my family's bills, and have my financial planner husband invest a nice big chunk of it.

I'd also buy a huge plot of land in Alaska near the Ketchikan area and just build a big family compound. Enough room for houses for me, my in laws, my parents, my brother and his family, and grandparents to each have a house and a couple acres. Not huge or crazy houses, just big enough to be comfortable.

I'd also put away some more money for the city I currently live in - we have a lot of homeless people, so I'd like to make like a little tiny house neighborhood to help them out and get them some resources - counseling, financial coaching, stuff like that.

But before all of that, I'd take the husband on a nice month long vacation in Fiji or Tahiti or something where we can just decompress and let our new reality sink in for awhile.

kalawa

Lump sum for sure. Pay off loans, all my family's loans. Buy a house with land, and water. Invest some. Have education funds for my children. Start a bakery and used book store. Give some to my family for spending. Donate to some charities close to me (Sick Kids, Canadian Mental Health Association, organizations for at risk youth, etc.)

pregobeth

Lump sum definitely. 
Pay off all debts, and the business loan.
Set up a college fund for our children.  
Learn all the things I've always wanted to - Take some art classes.
Donate 10% to charity.
Buy a small amount of acres in the hill country of Texas and raise a few animals, garden, and have a couple horses.
I've always wanted my own little book shop/coffee house, so I would start one in one of the little peaceful towns in the area where we would live. 
Live in peace and quiet and use the rest to live on and pay taxes. 

ShawnnaO

Annual payments... I'd pay off my bills, finally get my degree, put money away for my kids (I literally just had to backspace daughters -- apparently my subconscious thinks this baby is a girl) buy a house somewhere near the water. Maybe even start up the gym/cyber cafe me and my husband talk about when we're feeling dreamy. 

syssa-o

Lump sum
- pay off all debt
- cottage
- start landscaping company
- invest some
- kids future 
- donation to CHD research @ sick kids

lgutu28

Lump sum!
pay off debts, buy ourselves a home in Charleston, buy out parents homes, invest, save for kids education and travel!

savedbygrace1213

Annual
pay off debt of my own and of our families
tear my 1890s Home down and build a new one in the same spot. 
Go on more vacations for sure!
leave plenty for my children
donate a good chunk of the rest
Pick up more tabs and leave big tips
otherwise try to live the same, I think I would even keep my Kia 

ksmwalters

Lump sum for sure. We’d invest probably the vast majority, donate to charity, and sell our house to get more space/more land for kids and animals. I have a minimal amount of student loan debt left but it wouldn’t even scratch the surface of the lump sum. Then we’d go on a super extended vacation with family around the world. 

justkeeptrying

Lump sum

Pay off my house/move to a bigger house
Give to my parents/in laws/siblings
Donate a ton do my church and other charities
Make a college fund for DS
Live off the rest/interest and enjoy life!

tabbicat11

Lump sum
for quite a whIle I have had a running list of people, besides family, that I would give money to if I were to win the lottery. Then I would lay off our debt and go on a vacation. After that, who knows?

mmom3

Payments and first thing I'd do is finally breathe.  A large sigh of relief! I'd pay off debt, move, buy a house on Marco Island, help pay my parents debt, invest, create college funds for my kids, donate to our 501c3 organization, and travel.  I'd hire a weekly cleaning/lawn service as well! 

calecorvus

Lump sum, pay off debts, pay off the house.
Get a house I actually like on a couple acres, ideally a farmhouse with a barn that is/can be converted into living space as well (a few friends and I have a running not-quite-joke about starting a little farmsteading commune, plus I want a goat).
Get all my wife's medical expenses taken care of. Schooling fund for the kid, too.
Help out the non-manipulative sister with her school costs and housing.
Invest the bulk of the remainder and donate to some causes important to me. 

muggle621

Lump sum! 

Pay off family and close friend's debt. 
Invest a good bit and some in savings
Get a beach house somewhere in FL and buy a flat in the U.K. somewhere. Move to New England when our kid was school age and get him in a good school somewhere - basically gtf out of Louisiana!!! 
Open a doggie daycare or a no kill shelter so I could play with animals all day. 
Travel!!!! 

gh515

I would live as if nothing had changed** and keep it as silent as possible, aside from telling/helping family where possible. Just knowing that the financial security was there would make day-to-day life better!

**minus hiring a cleaning lady, of course  

day38

Annual Payments (not 100% sure on this - would need to do actual thinking on what makes more sense financially)
- pay off mortgages for us and our parents 
- Replace Corolla with a car with automatic doors/windows/locks :-) Could even be a newer Corolla
- sell current house and get something closer to the city and a little bigger (like 4 bedroom instead of 3)
- Have 3rd kid
- quit my job and start my own business aiming to only work part time 
- invest majority 
- choose a handful of charities I truly believe in the mission & how they spend they money (ie % of proceeds going to management fees vs programs) to donate to annually
- no plan to spend much more than we do currently (ie continue to live modestly)
- spend non-working time both volunteering and investing in myself - classes, fitness, hobbies
- join a board of a non-profit

Mass-girl-at-heart

Lump sum.

Pay off my and my siblings’ student loans and mortgages. Have my stepmother’s house made over. Buy myself a house by the water on cape cod with a guest house and enough land to not have to see my neighbors. After putting a bunch away for the kids I would buy a hyperbaric oxygen chamber so my husband could finally treat his brain injury and be able to enjoy our life of leisure watching our kids grow. 

It it would be nice to just be able to help out the lives of those I love and feel more present in my own life. 

bettyvonsomethingstein

@Mass-girl-at-heart, I had to Google the hyperbaric chamber.  Is this a therapy that could help your husband but it's just not available?  At the expense of sounding nosy, my interest is piqued.

DDRRT1982

 @Mass-girl-at-heart I am curious too. RTs run hyperbaric Chambers, but I haven't heard of this therapy.  

Can I add one...I would adpot, too.  I would love to add to our family as well.  

Mass-girl-at-heart

@DDRRT1982 a friends husband had it, it like a few weeks of intense time in the chamber (8ish hours a day if I remember) and then maintenance sessions basically forever. It helped him with basically all of his cognitive functions which made an drastic improvement in his daily life. 

I believe it is still in testing stages for TBI treatment and I doubt the VA would ever touch it given the cost. But from all I’ve read it is a life changer, if you’re able to keep it up.  The treatment my friend’s husband got was over $30K so I’ve written it off and haven’t done much research in the past few years. 

bettyvonsomethingstein

Okay, I change my answer to include donating money to whomever has the power to make that therapy covered by insurance for people with TBIs.  And also root for @Mass-girl-at-heart to win the lottery.  I wish this was a real possibility for you guys.  

Mass-girl-at-heart

@bettyvonsomethingstein thanks!  When someone won the powerball in MA over the summer I didn’t check the town right away and for about 5 minutes I was a multi millionaire!  But I’ve purchased one ticket in the past few years so it’s not looking good. 

HappyMonkey817

Lump sum. I would donate some. Pay off student loans, hire a landscaper and a housekeeper, add on to the house, and get a boob reduction. Save/invest the rest.

stardustskies

I would hire a financial advisor to see what they say about lump sum vs. annual payments. I would buy a nice house in a nice neighborhood but I wouldn't go all out. Think doctors as neighbors. I would pay off close relatives' mortgages. Donate some, of course. (Gotta pay your karma dues.) And I would travel the world. 

citygirl17

Lump sum for sure.  Pay off our house, give some to close relatives (Mom, Dad, FIL, Step-MIL, my sister, SIL), donate some.  Set aside some to invest.  Pay off mortgage, possibly move to a bigger house, and think seriously about having a third baby.  Buy a new car for DH since we're looking at doing that now anyway.  Travel alot more.  

bettyvonsomethingstein

HappyMonkey817 said:

Lump sum. I would donate some. Pay off student loans, hire a landscaper and a housekeeper, add on to the house, and get a boob reduction. Save/invest the rest.

I had a reduction in my early 20s.  It was life changing.  Of course now three kids later I'll have to do it all over again someday.  Womp womp!

fatstagnation

Annual payments. Like others I would pay off student loan debts first.
My dream is to have a modest city house and land in the country for gardening and trees. I would also like to own some forested land that I just leave natural.
I would set up annual donations to my favorite non-profits.
I would pay off parents' mortgages and at least have a fund for down payments and emergencies for family & friends.
Definitely invest and set up education funds for kids.
We already travel a lot (spouse is from Italy) but I would go to further places. Always dreamed of visiting Tokyo for example. 
I would definitely hire a house cleaner and get a bunch more pets. I'd also buy strictly solid wood furniture and go as organic/eco friendly as possible, and only ever buy ethical clothes and stuff.